The present invention relates to a tool joint cleaner, particularly a cleaner that is adapted to clean both the box and pin ends of a section of drill pipe on a drill rig. Further, the cleaner is designed to use only normal drilling water and does not require the use of solvents or other cleaning agents that would contaminate the drilling fluid.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,011,617 and 4,014,062 show and describe cleaners for cleaning the box and pin ends of drill pipe. The cleaners illustrated in these patents both utilize a solvent for cleaning the threads of the box and pin ends of the drill pipe. Since the box and pin ends of the drill pipe are cleaned directly over the borehole, the solvent used as a cleaning agent will contaminate the drilling fluid in the borehole. This is undesirable since the composition of the drilling fluid is closely controlled to obtain optimum drilling results. In particular, most drilling fluids are either water-based or oil-based; and in either case, solvents will seriously contaminate the drilling fluid. In addition, if hydrocarbon solvents are used, they can cause pollution and/or a safety hazzard.
The use of solvents as a cleaning agent for the drill pipe is also undesirable when using a drill string telmetry system such as that described in application Ser. No. 753,768, filed Dec. 23, 1976. In this type of telemetry system, information is sent from the bottom of the borehole to the surface over a hard wire system. Each section of the drill pipe is provided with a conduit containing a wire which terminates in contact rings disposed in the sealing shoulders of the drill pipe. When the drill pipe is made up, the contact rings seat and complete the circuit from one section of the drill pipe to the next section. The use of solvents to clean the box and pin ends of the drill pipe introduces the possibility of creating short circuits in the contact rings.
In addition to the above disadvantages, the cleaners described in the above patents also require the use of rotary brushes to assist the cleaning action. The use of rotary brushes necessitates drive means which increases the weight of the cleaning apparatus and requires the use of auxiliary means for supporting the cleaning apparatus. This reduces the flexibility of the cleaning apparatus and increases the time required for cleaning the tool joint.